Rangalal Bandyopadhyay (Bengali: রঙ্গলাল বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়) (Born 21 December 1827 – died 13 May 1887) was a Bengali poet, journalist, and author.Rangalal Bandyopadhyay

Banglapedia ''Banglapedia:'' ''the'' ''National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh'' is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia. It is available in print, CD-ROM format and online, in both Bengali and English. The print version comprises fourteen 500-page volumes. The ...

,Rangalal Bandyopadhyay National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh

Early life

In 1827 Bandyopadhyay was born at Bakulia village,

Hooghly district Hooghly district () is one of the districts of the Indian state of West Bengal. It can alternatively be spelt ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli''. The district is named after the Hooghly River. The headquarters of the district are at Hooghly-Chinsurah (' ...

in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

at his maternal grandfather's house. His original home was at Rameswarpur village situated near

Guptipara Guptipara is a village in Balagarh, a community development block that forms an administrative division in the Sadar subdivision of the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Guptipara sits beside the Hooghly River ...

of Hooghly,

. He lost his father when just a child. After studying at a local school at Bakulia and missionary school, he entered to

Hooghly Mohsin College Hooghly Mohsin College, established in 1836 after the Macaulay Report, is one of the oldest colleges in India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Arts, Commerce and Sciences. It is affiliated to University of Burdwan. History Ho ...

. He was fluent in

Bangla Bangla () may refer to: *Bengali language, an eastern Indo-Aryan language *The endonym of Bengal, a geographical and ethno-linguistic region in South Asia *''Bangla-'', a prefix indicating Bangladesh *West Bengal, a state in eastern India, also kn ...

, English, and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

as well as Oriya.

Career life

Bandyopadhyay's poems were first published in ''

Sangbad Prabhakar ''Sambad Prabhakar'' (also ''Sangbad Prabhakar''; ) was a Bengali language, Bengali daily newspaper founded by Ishwar Chandra Gupta. It began as a weekly newspaper in 1831 and became a daily eight years later in 1839. It was the first Bengali dai ...

'', the magazine of

Ishwar Chandra Gupta Ishwar Chandra Gupta (; 6 March 1812 – 23 January 1859) was a Bengali poet and writer. Gupta was born in Kanchrapara, in Bengal. Early life Ishwar Chandra Gupta was born in a Baidya family. He was brought up in his uncle's house after the d ...

. He served as editor in both the monthly ''Sangbad Sagar'' in 1852 and the weekly ''Bartavaha'' published in 1856. In 1855 Bandyopadhyay was appointed Assistant Editor of the newly published Education Gazette in which both his prose writings as well as poems were published. For some time in 1860 he taught Bangla Literature at

Presidency College Calcutta Presidency University, formerly Presidency College, is a public state university located in College Street, Kolkata. Established in 1817 as the ''Hindoo College'', it was later renamed ''Presidency College'' in 1855 and functioned as a leadi ...

. He joined government service and served variously as

Income Tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

Assessor, Deputy Collector and Deputy Magistrate.

Bibliography

Bandyopadhyay's first, and perhaps most important,

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

achievement is ''Padmini Upakhyan'' (1858), a historical romance of Rajput

Rani Padmini Padmini, also known as Padmavati or Rani Padmavati, was a 13th–14th century queen of the Kingdom of Mewar in India. Several medieval texts mention her, although these versions are disparate and many modern historians question the extent of t ...

based on Todd's Annals and Antiquities of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. It is known as the first

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

narrative romance published just after the

Revolt of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...

. In this work, a

Charan Charan (IAST: Cāraṇ; Sanskrit: चारण; Gujarati: ચારણ; Sindhi: چارڻ; IPA: cɑːrəɳə) is a caste in South Asia natively residing in the Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India, as well as the Sindh and Balochistan prov ...

of Rajputana recounts the story of the sacrificial death of Padmini while showing the site of her

jauhar Jauhar, sometimes spelled Jowhar or Juhar, was a Hindu Rajput practice of mass self-immolation by women and girls in the Indian subcontinent to avoid capture, sex slavery, enslavement, and rape when facing certain defeat during a war. Some repo ...

. His important poetical works include ''Karmadevi'' (1862), ''Shurasundari'' (1868) and ''Kanchi Kaveri'' (1879), recreated from the same name in odia of poet Purushottama Dasa. In 1872 he rendered

Kalidas Kālidāsa (, "Servant of Kali"; 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. His surviv ...

's ''Ritusanghar'' and ''Kumarsambhav'' into verse. His Nitikusumanjali is another poetical translation of

poems. His Kalikata Kalpalata is considered to be the first historical work about

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. In 1882 he edited and published Mukundaram's Kavikankan Chandi. The other important books of this poem, which are varied in various fields of

Bengali literature Bengali literature () denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time and dynastic patronization or non-patronization. Bengali h ...

, are: *''Padmini Upakhyan'' (1858) *''Karmadevi'' (1862) *''Shurasundari'' (1868) *''Kanchi Kaveri'' (1879) *''Bhek-Musiker Yuddha'' (1858) *''Nitikusumanjali'' (1872) *''Kavikankan Chandi'' (1882)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandyopadhyay, Rangalal 1827 births 1887 deaths Bengali writers People from the Bengal Presidency Writers from British India Hooghly Mohsin College alumni Writers from Kolkata People from Hooghly district